See Microsoft Research Demo 3D Touch on a Windows Phone

At ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2014, Microsoft Research demoed a new project in which they have developed a low-cost sensor solution that will enable touch less 3D interaction on mobile devices. Watch the video demo above.

We contribute a thin, transparent, and low-cost design for electric field sensing, allowing for 3D finger and hand tracking, as well as in-air gestures on mobile devices. Our approach requires no direct instrumentation of the hand or body, and is non-optical, allowing for a compact form-factor that is resilient to ambient illumination. Our simple driver electronics are based on an off-the-shelf chip that removes the need for building custom analog electronics. We describe the design of our transparent electrode array, and present a machine learning algorithm for mapping from signal measurements at the receivers to 3D positions. We demonstrate non-contact motion gestures, and precise 3D hand and finger localization. We conclude by discussing limitations and future work.

Last year, The Verge reported that Nokia’s first Windows Phone 8.1 device will include some sort of gesture detection, but it didn’t happen. It appears Microsoft and Nokia have postponed those plans for next generation Windows Phone devices, the Nokia McLaren, rumoured to come in November.